


Mummyhood

by ScribeShan



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, More Fluff, Quintis baby, Quintis sweetness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 20:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8415379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribeShan/pseuds/ScribeShan
Summary: Toby knows Happy’s not going to be the most tenderhearted mother ever, and he’s OK with that. But Happy Quinn is nothing if not full of surprises. Filled with so much Quintis saccharine-y sweetness that, like Halloween candy, it will literally rot your teeth out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> OK. I don’t understand the timeline, and I don’t care at this point. So no need to bother trying to figure out if the baby is too far along/not far enough along to be the size that it is on Halloween in this fic. It’s just mindless sweetness and fluff. :) Spoilers through 3x04.
> 
> This is what happens when one spends one's Saturday night fighting the stomach flu. I don't recommend it. :) 
> 
> A Halloween treat for all my new pals in the fandom. I am so glad I got to meet you all this year, so you definitely deserve a treat instead of a trick. :)

 

It started a couple days after she told him. They went to their first doctor’s appointment together, and he was still uncharacteristically quiet. All the way to the doctor’s office. Most of the doctor’s visit. All the way back to the garage. Silence.

Later that afternoon, she found a blueberry on her workbench. A single blueberry.

The next week, a grape.

Oh, she’d known it was him from the get-go. But he never brought it up, and she still didn’t know what the hell to say to him. They talked about incidentals — work, small talk. And they had awkward drive-by conversations like “you can stay at my place tonight if you want” or “I can pick up dinner and bring it over, if you’re interested.”

And then, once they were alone together, the silence would descend on them again. They’d force conversation about the day’s events or the agenda for the next day, and Toby was always there to force down her throat his guidelines for perfect gestation. 

They would curl up together at the end of the night without a word to each other. All they ever did was hold, and be held. He’d mutter something on the edge of sleep about being there for both of them, being a family. She’d reply with a promise to undo the thing she and Walter had done so many years ago. He’d whisper an ‘I love you’ and she’d say it back, the words still feeling alien on her tongue, and they’d go to sleep.

But for all their talk about pregnancy, they never talked about the baby.

Call it pregnancy brain — could that actually be a real thing? — but it took until the kidney bean appeared on her workbench before she figured out that the gifts represented the size of the baby that week.

She’d turned the dried bean over between her fingers, trying to imagine that something as tiny as that could one day be a human, and that it was happening inside her at that very moment. Then she’d caught Toby grinning at her. 

That night, when he came over, he brought his first present for the baby — a plush ferret.

“Family is about history,” he said quietly as Happy turned the toy over in her hands. “Tobias Merriweather Curtis, Jr., has history. And family. Our family started with a ferret.”

She was in bed first that night, head propped up on the pillows as she stared at the toy ferret on her stomach. She just couldn’t bring herself to put it away.

He smiled at her as he approached the bed. This time, he didn’t climb in silently. He heaved himself onto the mattress perpendicular to her, snatched the ferret away playfully, then dropped a kiss low on her stomach.

“Hello, Baby Bean,” he said lightly. “Don’t worry,” he rolled onto his back and rested his head on Happy’s thigh, “we’re not actually gonna call you that. But at the moment, we don’t know what to call you." He stared at the ceiling, clutching the stuffed animal to his chest. “I guess it’s high time we officially introduced ourselves, huh? I am Dr. Tobias M. Curtis, native son of Coney Island, Harvard Medical School alum, West Coast transplant. Most people call me Toby or Doc, but you’ll call me…” he sucked in a ragged breath, “…Dad, I guess. I’m your dad. And I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Happy reached down and traced her fingers down his scruff. “The baby doesn’t have ears, _Doctor_.”

He lolled his head to look at her. “The baby, in fact…does not have ears yet, you’re right. But this week, he or she developed little indentions on either side of the head that will become ears.” He glanced back at Happy’s stomach. “That voice of unwavering reason and total lack of whimsy, Bean, that’s Happy. Happy Quinn, the angel face from the City of Angels, valedictorian of the School for Hard Knocks, and mechanical engineer extraordinaire.” His eyes went warm and soft as his mouth spread into a languid smile. “And she’s your mom. We’re you’re family.”

A few beats of heavy silence passed between them. It was the most he’d spoken since she’d announced her pregnancy. The least awkward and stilted they’d been since she said no to his proposal. The first time since she’d heard he was missing that the knot in her chest had loosened. God, it had been a long few weeks.

She gave him half a grin, slowly laid her palm against his cheek. He closed his eyes, pressed a quick kiss to her palm, then laid his hand over hers, keeping it in place. When he opened his eyes again they were glassy. “Say hi to the baby, Happy. Don’t be rude.”

Happy halfheartedly rolled her eyes. “Pleased to meet you, Baby Bean.”

She felt Toby’s cheek press more firmly into her palm when he smiled. “So, first things first, we love you.”

“We do,” Happy nodded. “Both of us.”

Toby’s mouth fell open in delighted shock. 

“Second thing,” Happy said, not knowing what to do with Toby’s expression, “your dad’s middle name is, apparently, Merriweather. I know that means nothing to you now, but trust me, this will bring you entertainment for years to come.”

She rubbed her thumb across his cheek and he swallowed around the lump in his throat, sniffed loudly as he rolled onto one shoulder. “We got you a present today,” he said, voice strained with emotion. He playfully walked the ferret onto Happy’s belly. “He’s a special kind of stuffed animal called a ferret. A real ferret actually played a pretty big role in getting your mom to understand that she couldn’t resist me. Hey, maybe we should name you Bueller, since he was my wingman, and all.”

“Keep dreaming, Doc.”

* * *

After “kidney bean” week, Toby and Happy began fall together again. Slowly, they began to find their old rhythm. The awkwardness between them began to melt. 

The baby changed nicknames with each new piece of produce Happy found on her workbench. Baby Bean became Baby Olive, Baby Fig, Baby Lime and Baby Lemon. 

On Halloween, Happy arrived back from an appointment with Walter and Cabe to find an avocado on her workbench, wrapped in a white cloth, complete with googley eyes. She grinned. He may be overbearing, but he was sure as hell attentive to her wants and needs. 

An hour later, Paige came back from an errand. “Hey,” she dropped her bag on her desk and leaned against Happy’s workbench. What did you think of Baby Avocado?”

Happy froze. “What?”

“Baby Avocado! I saw it, so cute I could swoon. Did you like it?”

Happy clenched her jaw and nodded stiffly. _How the hell had she missed that?_

Paige cocked her head to the side. “What’s the matter?”

“Happy Halloween!” Toby shouted as he burst through the door. “Hey,” he stopped at Happy’s workbench and leaned against his forearms with a goofy grin. “Wanna hear something _scary_? We’re gonna be parents.”

Happy slowly turned her head toward him and smiled stiffly. “Uh huh.”

Toby’s face went slack with alarm. “What the hell were you guys talking about?” he asked Paige.

“Nothing, I just asked what she thought of Baby Avocado.”

Toby looked back at Happy. “Oh, God, did it get super-real for you? Should I not have done the blanket? I thought you’d like it.”

“No, no it was cute,” Happy stammered. “I just…I didn’t realize it was for the baby. I…I thought it was for Halloween.”

Toby, mildly distressed, rubbed her shoulders gently. “Hap, it’s OK. Stop freaking out. Why would I give you an avocado for Halloween?”

“Because I figured you’d outlaw refined sugar since it’s bad for the baby, and I’ve been craving Mexican food so much.”

“Happy,” he laughed, pulling her into a hug. “You didn’t get that I had swaddled it, like a baby in a blanket?”

“I…thought it was supposed to be a mummy. Like a Halloween mummy? I mean you stuck the little eyes on the cloth.”

“Because I couldn’t get them to stay on the avocado. They kept coming off when I was trying to swaddle the damn thing. Avocados are not the right shape for swaddling. What’s the big deal?”

“Well, it’s just…I’ve been having these cravings for Mexican and I thought it was a Halloween treat, so I…” she looked down at the bowl and bag of chips at the other end of her workbench and swallowed hard.

“Oh, my God,” Toby said.

“Oh, my GOD,” Happy moaned.

Toby broke into hysterical laughter. “Oh, my God.”

“OH, MY GOD. What kind of mother am I?”

Paige stared into the bowl of guacamole on Happy’s workbench. “You…you didn’t…”

“I did!” Happy screeched. “I ate Tobias Merriweather Curtis, Jr.!”

“You didn’t just eat him, you pureed him,” Toby laughed, hugging her tighter.

“I didn’t puree him, I just…mashed him up with a fork, and stirred him up with some lemon juice, salt, red onion and a serrano pepper.” She hopped up and down in Toby’s arms. “And then I ate him!”

“I can see why,” Paige said around a tortilla chip. “You’ve gotta give me this recipe.”

“ _Stop_ eating my child, Dineen!”

“Okay, Hap, I think you’ve officially gone to the zoo,” Toby leaned down to eye level and took her face in his hands. “It was a misunderstanding. There’s no harm done. It’s not the baby, it’s just an avocado. Tell your hormones to stop making you wig out.”

“But I just…I feel so bad,” Happy moaned, dangerously close to tears. She picked up her phone and unlocked it. “He was so cute but I didn’t realize he was supposed to be the baby. I thought you dressed it up for Halloween. What kind of mother _doesn’t know her own fruit child when she sees it_?”

Toby stared down at her phone. “A freakin’ amazing one, that’s what kind.”

“What?”

“Hap,” Toby said. “You took a picture of it. You took a picture of the stupid avocado all dressed up.”

“And then I cut it in half and jerked the pit out with a chef’s knife!”

“It’s a piece of fruit; that’s what it’s for, crazy pregnant lady!” Toby screeched. 

Happy scowled. “You might wanna rethink that particular nickname.”

“Happy, look,” Toby took the phone from her. “You took a picture of the damn thing. And then you saved his little costume,” he pointed to the scrap of cloth, tucked into her pencil jar. “And when you realized you misunderstood you were heartbroken. This…this is sentimentality, making of memories, caring for others…PLUS, you made a healthy snack. That’s motherhood. You nailed it.”

Happy exhaled. “Really? That’s all moms do?”

“Happy, trust me,” he pulled her to him again. “Less than halfway through this pregnancy and you’re already the best mummy ever.”

“ _Way_ too soon, Doc.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!


End file.
